Part 7 - the beginning of 2014…..pastels

My journey continues…...

After painting with watercolors for the last two years, I was felling I needed to try something else. Being a fine arts major in college, we were able to experience many of the fine arts and different mediums. It's hard for me to stick with one for too long because I love them all. So it was time for me to  focus on another medium. That friend of mine who inspired me to pick up my brushes again, was now working in pastels. AH! the color, the texture, the papers and her beautiful work - it brought back the excitement. I bought my first set of pastels, a basic set of soft pastels from Sennelier.

I set out to use the pastels and did these two paintings from photos my dad had taken 50 years ago where I grew up.  I felt frustrated and had no idea how to use the pastels, I didn't have the right colors. So I bought some more pastels. These sets from Terry Ludwig.

 My art friend suggested I take a pastel class from a local pastel artist, Karen Margulis, who lived close by.  I walked out of that first workshop so excited and ready to paint every day. Here is one of my first pastels from that workshop.

 I painted this from a photo I had taken at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I have mostly used my own photos for my pastel work.  I felt like if I had more of a connection with the reference photo that my paintings would have more meaning. Please follow along with me as I write more about the workshops with Karen Margulis. She has been such an inspiration in my art journey.